Controls engineer Alicia Lomas discusses tough challenges and lessons learned throughout her extensive career.

Alicia Lomas has a long history of giving back, starting early in her career as an intern for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), cleaning up diesel and gas contamination in the Bering Sea. Two years later, Lomas was working as a process engineer at Daisy Brand, installing equipment and programming PLCs and HMIs on the cottage cheese line. Since then, she has worn many different control engineering hats at a variety of food and beverage manufacturers, including Continental Mills, Oberto Sausage Company, and Chobani. Today, Lomas is the senior chemical process controls engineer for Terraform Industries, a startup that strives to solve climate change using technology that can create natural gas out of thin air — literally.

And through all of these cutting-edge career moves, Lomas has remained steadfast on her own personal mission to build and mentor diverse teams. “Culture was what Alicia created in the controls group,” said one of her former colleagues.

Diversity can be a competitive advantage for companies, as it introduces new ideas and perspectives. For her part, Lomas has shaped engineering practices, scaled operations, and cultivated innovation, autonomy, and continuous improvement within every team and project she leads. In this interview with engineering.com, Lomas provides a glimpse into some of the people and projects that have shaped her journey.

Can you provide a quick summary of your career up to your current role? 

I studied chemical engineering and was fortunate enough to be hired as a process engineer at Daisy Brand. I was trusted to serve as lead designer and programmer for the cottage cheese process, which was a new product for Daisy. Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked extensively in manufacturing, primarily in the food and beverage sector. More recently, I’ve delved into the startup world with renewable energy and battery material recycling and manufacturing. Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of building some incredible teams that embody qualities I truly value — resilience, professionalism, innovation, integrity, and collaboration.

What first drew you to engineering?

I wish my origin story was a little more exciting. I was good at math and science, and I had a chemistry teacher who told me I should pursue chemical engineering because I’d make more than a chemist. I proceeded with my degree but didn’t feel connected to it until I started working in the real world. The first time I got to program a valve to open and close, I knew I was where I belonged. Programming equipment to manufacture products that my family and friends eat daily is extremely rewarding.

Were there any influential engineers who helped shape your decision to become an engineer?

I really didn’t know what I was going to do when I graduated, but I lucked out and had two engineers see potential in me and teach me a solid foundation, which secured my passion for controls engineering. Tom Lambert and Tom Lorkowski taught me everything about how to be a successful process and controls engineer, giving me autonomy, while making sure I didn’t fail while still learning important lessons along the way.

Describe your involvement in a product launch or design project that went well.

During my time at Redwood Materials, with the incredible support of my team, we successfully designed, programmed, and commissioned four 24/7 manufacturing plants dedicated to lithium-ion battery recycling and battery material manufacturing. We took the initiative to set new standards with our controls and electrical systems and developed standardized templates and function blocks to ensure consistency across the campus.

Our design approach evolved from plant to plant, driven by a commitment to continuous improvement in availability, common spare parts, user experience, and visibility for the executive team. The range of challenges we faced, the exceptionally tight timelines, and the diversity of technology not only tested us but also fostered significant growth in both our technical and soft skills. Today, there’s no PLC platform or new piece of hardware that intimidates our team.

Describe your biggest engineering challenge to date. How did you conquer or resolve it?

There was a cartoning machine that was meant to run over 20 configurations of products, including a base powder pouch and a smaller topping pouch of various sizes and shapes. This project was going to double the capacity of this production line, and many of the products could only be ran on this line. The vendor made a commitment to deliver the technology and they were struggling. I ended up spending much of my time at the vendor site and serving as the onsite project manager to gauge their progress, ask the technical questions, and push for solutions. Once the equipment was delivered and commissioned, there were still substantial barriers to overcome to get to the promised overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and to be able to deliver to customers. I put in a poor man’s data collection, utilizing the PLC, HMI, and communication software, which allowed us to understand and tackle the top issues. A combination of reprogramming, mechanical changes, and setpoint standardization helped us meet the ramp-up curve and deliver to our customers, with just a minor delay to the overall project.

In your opinion, what more can be done to increase participation of young people in under-represented communities in engineering today?

There needs to be more exposure — as early as elementary school — of what engineers do, including demonstrations and videos of how things are made. Engineering needs to be shown to students as something that is reachable, relatable, and rewarding. I loved food and beverage because the end products I was programming equipment for were things my friends and family knew well. In my experience, the people in my life have not really understood what being a controls engineer means. But when I took them to my factory and showed them how cottage cheese was made and I programmed it, they were impacted!

You have said you thrive on building and mentoring diverse teams. What unique perspective do you think diverse teams bring to engineering or design projects?

It’s the diversity of experience and perspectives that leads to innovative problem-solving. By bringing together these varied viewpoints, everyone benefits — whether it’s learning a new communication strategy or discovering a more efficient way to address a long-standing issue. In controls engineering, where we constantly encounter new hardware, software, and technologies, it’s impossible to know everything. Having team members with different perspectives can significantly enhance our problem-solving process. Sometimes, a fresh set of eyes or a simple question like, “Have you checked this setting?” can dramatically improve our chances of resolving issues quickly and effectively.

How do you motivate these diverse teams?

The best motivation I’ve found is transparency, honesty, and integrity. These two things lead to trust, and that is further harnessed by being in the trenches when it matters most, as well as granting your team autonomy and responsibility with clear expectations. Sharing the “why” is extremely important, as that will naturally motivate engineers, as well as give them all of the context to provide the most appropriate and beneficial solution for the business. Even sharing the not-so-good news that your engineer didn’t meet your expectations fosters motivation, as that is the only way people will know what they need to work on to grow.

How can those new to engineering develop confidence in the workplace?

New engineers should be given value-added tasks with appropriate guardrails. I’ve entrusted many interns, even those with no prior programming experience, with projects that led to significant downtime reductions or cost savings. The key is to walk them through an overview of the task, provide examples and resources, and remain available for questions and review of their work along the way. Timely, constructive feedback helps them learn and grow. When they are ready to deploy their solutions, having myself or an experienced engineer as a safety net, while still allowing the new engineer to take the lead, is crucial for their development.

I learned this approach from Tom and the team at Daisy. They had me migrate PLC code. Though I was initially nervous, this method gave me the confidence to advance my skills and eventually design an entire cottage cheese process.

What safeguards would you recommend to minorities who are aiming to minimize mistakes? 

It’s important to slow down, check your work, and get a sanity check. In the world of controls, I would recommend that newer engineers avoid trying to automate their code writing and instead go line by line. I’ve caught many typos and broader global issues in my code by doing what can be perceived as the tedious way. Being thorough and detail-oriented will catch 98% of issues. Then, when you get to commissioning, you can focus on the process and equipment challenges, not fixing coding issues. And remember, no question is stupid — seasoned engineers love sharing their knowledge and mistakes to prevent you from making the same ones. And if a mistake is made, which is natural, make sure you do not make the same one again by introducing countermeasures for yourself and that you own it. Integrity is everything.

Any comments on learning from mistakes yourself?

I’ll never forget the first time I faulted a PLC and brought the sour cream process down due to a negative timer preset. I made sure that I never made that mistake again and shared that little nugget of caution with my peers and future engineers. I also made some mistakes early on as a leader, where I tried to assume all controls engineers have the same specialties and skill sets. I was then missing out on utilizing the talent I had for the appropriate focuses while making them feel as though they weren’t meeting my expectations. I course-corrected this situation and saw the positive impact the change had on my previously impacted employees.

Any additional general comments or advice about DEI in engineering based on your own experience?

I want to encourage everyone to seek a mentor and to not give up. Being a female in manufacturing and controls engineering is challenging, but with amazing allies, mentors, and leaders, it has been worth the discomfort and the battles I’ve had to endure. The more diversity we bring into these fields, the better off the manufacturing plants, the startups, and the businesses will be.